Powerful winds Thursday morning disrupted power to many north and central Vermont' communities.

By noon, utility crews had restored electricity to most of the region.

High winds proved most destructive earlier in the day, but persisted into mid-afternoon in western Vermont.

At 2:15 p.m., Green Mountain Power, the state's largest utility, reported most of its issues resolved -- and that a fresh outage in Newbury had affected 276 customers. Ninety minutes later, that number had been whittled down to 184.

Earlier, GMP reported:

--At 10 a.m., 357 customers in Colchester were without electricity

--Around noon, 128 Underhill customers experienced a short outage

--Rutland County was even harder hit: GMP reported 587 customers in Killington, and 213 in Danby endured an outage. By noon, all those customers were back online.

Vermont Electric Coop reported mid-morning power outages to 139 customers in Fairfield, about 80 in Highgate, 37 in South Hero, 37 in Grand Isle and 76 in North Hero.

-Wind-downed power lines also halted traffic on U.S. 7 at Lake Road in Milton for about an hour.

At 4:30 a.m., the National Weather Service placed much of northwestern Vermont on a high-wind alert. The service also issued a small-craft warning for Lake Champlain - and reported localized gusts of up to 46 mph in the Champlain Valley region.

As predicted, the afternoon saw gusty conditions ease into the breezy range.